As a child, I wanted to be an actor: Javed Akhtar

New Delhi: He is an accomplished writer, poet and lyricist, but Javed Akhtar says his childhood aspiration, just like every kid, was to become an actor.

"All children, when they watch a film, they end up thinking everything that a hero does - action, singing, etc. So all of them want to become actors. Similarly, even I wanted to be an actor when I was a child," Akhtar told reporters here Thursday.

"It is only once you grow up that you know that a movie has a director, a screenplay writer, a lyricist, a composer, and other technicians. But till a certain age, you believe the hero is everything," he added.

The veteran writer, 66, spoke on the sidelines of the launch of the second season of Zee Classic`s "Classic Legends".

Recounting one of his meetings with Dilip Kumar, Akhtar said: "Dilip saab was being given an award in Lucknow and I was called to say a few words. That day I felt my circle was complete.

"I was in school and I must have been six or seven years old when I had gone to watch `Aan` in a theatre in Hazratganj. It had Dilip saab. He was playing with a sword, riding a horse, singing songs... That was my introduction to cinema, my first understanding of a hero.

"Years later at the award function, I stood on a stage to give a speech on the same actor in a hotel near the same theatre. It was nostalgic," he said.

Akhtar will combine such anecdotes and more on "Classic Legends", which will go on air Nov 18.